


From Thee My Heart Secreted

by EllieMurasaki



Series: Beatrisia Catardi [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Community: spn_bitesized, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-07
Updated: 2010-08-07
Packaged: 2017-10-10 23:47:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/105783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieMurasaki/pseuds/EllieMurasaki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ruby got that knife somewhere.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From Thee My Heart Secreted

**Author's Note:**

  * For [scintilla10](https://archiveofourown.org/users/scintilla10/gifts).



> Title from Dante's _Inferno_, Cary translation (say who are these, interr'd within these vaults, of whom distinct we hear the dolorous sighs?).

Beatrisia, back when she was Beatrisia, read the _Inferno_. She sold her soul for knowledge to use and to pass to her daughters because she knew her soul would not outlast her death, which would make her one of the Epicureans Dante placed in the sixth circle of hell, in one of the tombs surrounded by fire hot enough to work iron.

When Beatrisia is branded in hell, it is with implements that glow red at the tips. When she is burned, it is with red flames, sometimes orange. Fire any hotter burns to the bone in an instant, leaving only the edges of the wound to feel the pain. There is nothing white-hot in hell.

So when Lilith, wearing a small dark-haired child who could have been Beatrisia's Adallasia the year Clara was born, gives Beatrisia a knife and says it is iron alloyed with a secret and it was forged in the sixth circle of hell, she is sure Lilith is lying. She investigates later—Wikipedia, Google, Project Gutenberg; how many people sold their souls to create a box easier to carry than an infant, that opens to reveal the wisdom of the ages? ingenuity is a marvelous thing—and she was right: fire must be brilliantly white to be hot enough to melt iron.

Lilith beckons Beatrisia down, and she kneels, face to face with Lilith. Lilith puts a hand on Beatrisia's cheek, and the touch burns, only for a moment, before everything is white.

When Beatrisia comes back to herself, she feels different. Stronger. She looks different, Lilith tells her while explaining the purpose of the knife: Beatrisia is a known quantity to most demons, and now no one will recognize her.

Beatrisia pricks her finger with Lilith's knife, curious. A touch of gold light flares, a muted version of the sensation of Lilith gifting Beatrisia additional power. (This knife will never kill Lilith.)

A drop of blood rises, red as rubies.


End file.
